Amsterdam Schiphol to turn to wind power in 2018

Amsterdam Schiphol to turn to wind power in 2018

The Royal Schiphol Group has announced that Amsterdam Schiphol and its entire Dutch airport network will utilise wind power from next year.

The electricity will be provided by wind farms operated by renewable energy company, Eneco, and it is hoped that today's decision will accelerate the development of sustainable electricity production in the Netherlands.

Eneco will supply Schiphol, Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Eindhoven Airport and Lelystad Airport with sustainable power from January 1, 2018.

Together, the airports consume around 200GWh, which is comparable with the consumption of 60,000 households. In the Netherlands, this is about the size of Haarlemmermeer or Delft.

Jos Nijhuis, president and CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, enthuses: “For our new energy contract, we wanted nothing but sustainable power generated in the Netherlands. After all, one thing is certain: aviation can and must be made more sustainable. "We feel that the most important elements of this collaboration with Eneco are that all the Schiphol Group airports are involved and that additional sustainable energy sources will be developed in the Netherlands. This will allow our airports to increase their sustainability and offer economic benefits.”

While Jeroen de Haas, CEO of the Eneco Group, says: “For the energy transition, it is crucial for the business sector – which is by far the largest energy consumer – to embrace sustainability.

"Pioneers such as Royal Schiphol Group are consciously choosing new, sustainable forms of production and are therefore setting the tone for others. As a result, they are also helping Eneco Group to invest in wind farms and other sustainable energy sources.”

The first new wind farm that will generate power for Royal Schiphol Group is Vianen, which will be operational from January 2018.

More wind farms will follow, and from 1 January, 2020, all of the power will come from newly built farms.

Until the new wind farms have been constructed, the power will come from existing sustainable energy sources in the Netherlands.

The decision to use new wind farms means that Schiphol will not be drawing power from the existing sustainable energy network. It will also increase the range of sustainable power options in the Netherlands.